Love, Lead, Serve

You Must Decrease

Men usually don’t like to be humble. We can see humility as a weakness. That is foolish of us.

The times when you get into trouble, when there is strife in your relationships, those are the times when you are focused too much on yourself. When we make our lives all about us, we can easily start to sin. Greed, lust, pride, and gluttony become all too easy.

When you are married, the challenge is elevated. You promised to love and protect your wife. Along with that promise, you agreed to be the head of your household, the model of the Christian Life. You agreed to step into the shoes of St. Joseph, with little hope of ever filling them.

The perfect antidote to this pride is to make your life about your wife. Instead of watching what you want to watch, offer to view one of her shows. Instead of insisting on her doing her chores all the time, why don’t you take care of them? Despite what you may think, some men have been successful at operating a washing machine and folding clothes.

The point is this. If you make your marriage about your wife, and she makes it about you, everyone will be taken care of. Even if this is a priority to you and not to her, your marriage will still be better with one less person only looking out only for themselves.

The same is true with the Spiritual life. Pope Francis recently was talking about social climbers in the Church. These are individuals who seek influence and power by being “promoted” to various positions in the Church. Pope Francis asked why they are trying to steal the glory that is due solely to Christ. That is true for us in our families. Christ has won the victory, why should we try to move in on it?

To quote the Gospel of St. John, “He must increase; I must decrease.” (Jn 3:30)AuthorCard

Catholic Husband is the home for the writings of Chet Collins since 2013. He writes on topics that include marriage and family life. This blog is here to help inspire you to love, lead, and serve your family. It includes a historical archive of over 800 unique posts.